Tuesday, December 16, 2008

October 2012, photo by Juta Kübarsepp for the December issue of Kodu ja Aed, 2012

From the recipe archives (originally posted in January 2007)

At the tender age of 18 I moved to Denmark for a year as an exchange student. Wide-eyed and over-excited, I enjoyed the experience a lot. It was quite a life-changing experience. I didn't see my friends and family for almost a year, so I had to adjust to the new environment, make new friends and generally grow up quickly. At the age of 18, this was definitely something to cherish.

A new country meant lots of new foods, too (and over 10 kg extra weight upon return, sadly). Usually, the Danes would try to impress the exchange students by introducing them to 'typical' Danish items of kartofler med frikadeller (potatoes with meat balls) and rugbrød og leverpostej (rye bread and liver pate). Although delicious, these didn't impress me as such, as they're staple foods in in Estonia, too. But I had my first quiche, my first hotdog, my first spring roll and my first lasagne while in Denmark.

Whereas I broadened my international culinary horizons during that year, I also fell in love with one particularly Danish dish. You see, the Danes have the most delicious pudding for Christmas - risalamande or enriched rice pudding served with warm cherry compote. Risalamande contains either chopped or flaked almonds, and one whole almond is hidden in one of the bowls. The person who finds the almond will receive a special gift. You need to eat this pudding carefully, as you need to tell a whole almond from a chopped one by gently 'testing it' on your tongue. I guess you'll lose the gift if you can't show a whole almond, you see?!

I distinctly remember that when my host-mother 'mor Kirsten' served risalamande for the Christmas meal, every single child at the table found a whole almond in their pudding and none of the adults did.

First, make the rice porridge. Slowly bring the milk to a boil. Rinse the rice in cold running water, drain and add to the boiling milk together with the vanilla pod. Stir gently until the milk comes to the boil again, then reduce heat, cover and simmer gently for 45-60 minutes, until the rice has absorbed all the milk and become soft. Cool completely.

Whisk the cream and sugar, and fold into cooled porridge together with almonds. Add more sugar, if you wish.

To make the cherry compote, bring the cherries and syrup to the boil in a small saucepan. Mix the cornstarch with cold water, stir into the cherry compote and simmer for a few minutes, until the sauce thickens a little.

Serve the cold rice and almond porridge with a warm cherry compote. And remember the extra gift to the lucky one with a whole almond in their pudding!

Yum, risalamande! You know, the funny thing is, we never, ever (in my family, anyways) would contemplate eating it on any other day than Christmas Eve. I have no idea why, but that's just how it is - eh. Oh, and, um... I don't think I've ever made cherry sauce myself - I always buy it in cartons, tee-hee! Better bookmark this recipe...Also - that's not true, with the Danish Pille! I was impressed with how much you remembered - Danish isn't exactly the easiest of languages!:-)

This porridge looks so nice. I will HAVE to try this. P. has been asking for riz au lait, and i just managed to buy gooseberries. Don't ask me where they are from, not in season in MA for sure, but I just could not resist!

Yeah!!!! I'm a Danish-American homesick in Australia. My family does the pork roast, carmelized potatoes, cabbage, and rice pudding every Christmas Eve and Smorgebord on Christmas. I have been desperately missing my Danish Christmas and tonight just made the pork roast and potatoes. Found your rice pudding and can't wait to make it and taste a little bit of my family!!! xxxx

We had this every Christmas eve when we lived in Denmark. We would begin with risengrød for lunch - a rice porridge cooked in milk, served with butter, sugar and cinnamon. Now in California, we don't make the riz à l'amande for our dessert anymore, but we still make risengrød for lunch on the 24th!

Yay! A fellow rice porridge fan! I've been mandated by my (Norwegian) father to make this for Christmas eve - apparently the almond is deeply symbolic as well as a marzipan pig (!), so thank you for this inspiring recipe. Love the photo, looks infinitely more glamorous than rice porridges of Christmas past :-)

What a wonderful story about the kids and their whole almonds - and a great looking dessert. I'm still fascinated by the fact that the Danish and Afrikaans word for meatballs is practically identical....